Multiple Transformations

Abstract

This paper develops a conceptual framework for interpreting the process of urban change in post-communist cities. The departure from the legacies of the communist past has been effected through multiple transformation dynamics of institutional, social and urban change. While institutional reforms have been largely accomplished, the adjustment of urban land use patterns to new societal conditions is still ongoing. Hence, post-communist cities are still cities in transition. Using this interpretative framework and referring to a wide spectrum of academic work, the paper provides an overview of urban restructuring in post-communist countries over the past two decades with a specific focus on the examples of mutual integration of the three fields of transformation.

Long-Term Land Use Changes Driven by Urbanisation and Their Environmental Effects (Example of Trnava City, Slovakia)

“…Political changes triggered new economic interests that greatly affected the cities' structure, and the restitution of private property and democratisation of political life proved significant driving forces in most post-communist countries in the 1990s [31]. The most important general trends in the transition cities are the return of the importance of land rent and the increasing number of participants competing for space, renaissance of self-government, increase in social and spatial differentiation, transformation of employment structures, reshaping townscape and the physical transformation of urban space.…”

“…Similar development was also observed in cities in other post-communist countries (Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary and Bulgaria), where original activities were replaced by new ones. These took the form of commercialization [68,92], construction of new apartments [29], brownfield regeneration [93,94] and the establishment of new commercial centres [31,95]. The emergence of brownfields and decline of some housing estates constructed during socialism highlighted major problems remaining in post-socialist cities [96,97].…”

Economic resilience and hybridization of development – A case of the Central European Regions

“…In the territorial dimension, the high level of economic diversification is the basis for Golubchikov to define the assumptions of such hybridization. It explains the different dynamics of the territorial units development based on mutual interactions between the postsocialist legacy and the forces of neoliberal capitalism (Golubchikov et al 2014, Sýkora-Bouzarovsky 2012. These relationships have a direct impact on the results of the analysis carried out for the Central European regions.…”

New Municipal Housing Construction, Decision-making, and Risks of Segregation: A Case Study in Rudoltice

“…Relativně malé, ale homogenní, nové sociálněprostorové formace podle Sýkory [2009] představují výsledky segregačních procesů v podmínkách postsocialistických transformací. Pro tyto společnosti je charakteristická významná proměna základních principů organizace v politice i ekonomice, což se s určitým časovým posunem přenáší i do principů prostorové diferenciace [Sýkora, Bouzarovski 2012]. Setrvačnost prostorových struktur i nedávná změna preferencí proto neumožnila vznik rozsáhlých segregovaných lokalit.…”